Warnings: Slightly graphic descriptions of injuries. They'll get worse as the story progresses.

Welcome to the third installment of Protecting the Protector! I'm glad to see you again! I've clearly seen you before if you've read two other chapters! Thanks to Guest, Nishikil, ninjapanda, AngryHitsu, Yashiru Kusajishi for reviewing. I love it when you guys review. I also love all of your names. So Disclaimer then chapter? You guessed it! See you at the bottom.


The group of shinigami were lead to the usual meeting area, the room with the round table. There was tea already sitting out. The silence that had taken over the usually loud and boisterous group, was heavy with worry.

They sat around, for perhaps ten minutes and there was not a sound uttered in that time. Soon Urahara let out a long sigh. It startled several people out of their reprieves. Seven pairs of eye turned to focus on the ex-captain.

Ichigo's three friends kept their eyes downcast. Urahara spoke. "Based on what Ishida, Chad, and Orihime said I went into the archives that I have available to me and looked for shinigami that matched the descriptions with those weapons."

"And?" Toshiro prompted.

"The wasn't anything on them. But I did stumble upon an article from long ago talking about a rebel shinigami that had a sword that didn't have powers associated with shinigami and he was using them for purposes that weren't exactly smiled upon."

There was a stirring among the group, they weren't sure where they were going. "It would appear that this shinigami knew that their zanpakuto didn't have a power that would be considered acceptable so it remained a secret until a shinigami revealed it to one of the higher ups at the time."

"So why did they go after Ichigo?" Renji asked Urahara.

Urahara paused before he answered. "I don't know. However the zanpakuto's power was deadly, and it its wielder had long since fallen from the light."

The group nodded solemnly, before they fell into another awkward silence Toshiro spoke up. "We should get started investigating. It won't do just going off speculations."

Urahara nodded. "I'll have Ishida lead you to where Ichigo was attacked."

The young Quincy looked surprised that he would be asked to lead them being the least aquatinted with the shinigami. He regain his composure and stood up. "Come on." He said.

The group stood up and said their farewells. Yoruichi stayed behind, her job was finished. She looked and Urahara. Her arms crossed. "You didn't tell them everything."

"Oh? Could you tell?" Urahara asked slowly regaining his cheerful composure.

"I can always tell when you're holding something back. You always have an air about you when you do that and you hesitated."

"I did. But that's because I don't want to worry them with things that may not come to pass. Its more of a guess than anything."

Yoruichi nodded. She knew that Urahara had a fondness for the young orange-haired teen, so it made sense that he was worried about the boy. She watched the retreating backs of the six shinigami.

"You think they'll find something?" Yoruichi spoke long after the small group had left.

"I hope so." Urahara said seriously.

†††††††

Ichigo slowly came into consciousness. Groaning as he felt pain corse through his body. The worse areas that he was able to pin point was across his chest and on his side. After getting over the initial shock of the overwhelming pain he realized that he was laying on something smooth, hard, and cold.

He also felt a chill run through the top half of his body. Cracking open one of his eyes he saw that he was in a poorly lit room, poorly lit cell, he amended once he saw that there was only one door, and that it looked to be solid steel. There was a glow radiating outside the door.

Glancing around he saw no possible ways to escape. He sighed but winced as he caused pain to ripple through his chest. He attempted to push himself up, grunting with the effort and discomfort as his injuries were tugged on.

The chill was waining as he began to move, yet it was still there. Ichigo decided that the chill was unnatural. He looked down at his chest noticing that he was given more restricted movement than he would have with having only a gash across his chest.

To his surprise someone had taken the time to bind his wounds. Judging by how tight the bandages were, someone knew what they were doing. Ichigo could tell that these were older bandages as the red that welled up to the surface as it had turned the russet color of dried blood.

From somewhere in hall he could here a muffled voice. "I here groaning. Enyo go see if he's awake."

There was the soft clicking as someone walked down the hallway. It was echoing badly so he couldn't judge the distance they were from the door. He saw the eye hatch slide open and the it was followed by the sound of a bolt being slid out of its place.

The door was shoved open it scraping across the floor. Ichigo grimaced at the sound, it was worse than nails on a chalk board and he was pretty sure he saw a spark or two.

Standing in the door way was a recognizable figure. It was certainly the Enyo he remembered, she looked more casual but more done up at the same time. He hair was braided into a circlet and she was wearing what looked to be a dress you would see in paintings of the greek goddesses.

The light was shadowing her face so he couldn't read her expression but he could guess it in her words. "You're awake already? A normal shinigami would be out for at least another day or two."

Ichigo looked up at her, trying to muster all the venom in his voice he could. "Sorry to disappoint."

Enyo took a step closer. "On the contrary, you waking up so soon allows us to precede with our plans sooner."

The Grecian girl stepped back out of the room. " Well he is awake."

"Let's take him to the king." There really was a lot of echoing in the hallway, it was annoying Ichigo decided.

Enyo waved her hands and two humanoid figures appeared. They had no distinct features, and were little more than simple shadows. They hefted him up, ignoring the fact that he was severely wounded.

Between the two shadow people Ichigo was dragged unceremoniously to an unknown destination. He passed the owner of the second voice. He should've guessed that it was Daichi. Daichi, grinned evilly at him.

Enyo walked behind him, Daichi fell in step with her. The effort from keeping his head up was tiring Ichigo out. I must be hurt worse than I originally thought. The shadow's were oblivious to his waining consciousness. They dragged him along like a sack of potatoes. Ichigo wondered how far they were from this "King" guy. Thinking back on it Daichi and Yuna had both said something about the boss but Enyo was talking about the king. Were they the same person?

†††††††

Ichigo wondered if at some point he blacked out, because at the moment he was shoved to the ground in a position that was resembling a bow. The shadow people dissipated.

He lifted his head the tiniest of a fraction. He was in a grand room. The ceilings were arched and the black stone which had coated many of the wall was continued through here. There was a large window directly in front of him. The light that was shining through the panes was bright. It illuminated the entirety of the room.

Squinting his eye Ichigo could make out something disrupting the light. It was large and it resembled a throne. Something was hanging off to the side that looked like legs? There wasn't much else he could do aside from continue to look at the shadowed mass. At some point he had been chained. He was pretty sure it came from Enyo's zanpakuto.

The legs moved and disappeared and the next thing he new a slim figure had manifested itself next to it.
"So this is the Kurosaki boy?" The slim figure asked. The authority and power behind the voice rivaled the Head Captain's.

"Yes, milord." Daichi answered with a clumsy bow, it was more of a medieval sweeping bow than the traditional ones that the Japanese preformed.

"He's younger than I would've guess." The figure whirled, so now it was facing them instead of listing from the side. "Of course it makes it easier for us to retrieve our prize."

The figure practically glided towards them. Ichigo had little doubt now that this was in fact the leader that these people were following. As it approached Ichigo could start to see that the form was more male that female.

"Close the windows. I want him to get a good look at me." The order was complete with in a heartbeat of the sentence being completed.

With the windows closed the room was lit by only the light trickling through the cracks in the blinds and torches that at some point had been lit. Ichigo blinked several times trying to readjust his eyes to the lack of light. Once his eyes were semi adjusted he could make out the figure now.

It was a very slim man. His skin was pale, almost white. His black hair was barely touching his shoulders. The torches made his red eyes burn even more fiercely. His lips were curled back to reveal a pointed grin.

"How nice it is to finally meet you." The man bent down, he was scarcely an inch away.

Ichigo tried to lean away from the man. He smelled to sweet for it to be natural but he found that he was unable to move.

"I suppose it wouldn't be odd for you to be completely untrusting of us. I mean my subordinates nearly killed you, and I assume didn't give you any explanation." The man sighed.

The subordinates in question seemed to shrink back in shock. The two that Ichigo hadn't seen that night, remained standing tall, as they had complacent smile on their faces. Now that there was light he got a better look at the two others that were in the park. With a strangled noise it dawned on Ichigo that he had no idea how much time had past between them meeting and him waking up.

The king looked at him amused. Thinking that he was attempting so say something. Ichigo tried to glare diffidently at the self-serving smirk on the guy's face. He struggled against the invisible bonds.

The man sent out a wave of reiatsu that nearly suffocated Ichigo in his weakened state. "We can't have you struggling now can we."

Ichigo felt the coldness return and start to wrap around his heart. He was dreading what these guys would do to him. "Listen up. I'll tell you about us. Since you're a guest of ours a little information can't hurt."

"As you've probably already guessed we are shinigami, well were." He chuckled. "Powerful ones at that. All of us were seated officers in our squad before some circumstance forced us out."

The man straightened and was pacing in front of Ichigo. "Enyo's was that she joined the Shadow Society, a group dealing with the shadow's of peoples former selves. Yamamoto wasn't to pleased with that and threatened to lock her up for insubordination. Yuna struck up a deal with demons. I'm sure you've seen her shikai. It was changed after she dealt with them she's got demon's speed and strength. She left Soul Society before they could find out what she did. Daichi's is simple he left because they betrayed him."

The man took a breath. "The other two and I have similar reasons of leaving. We were pressured into quitting. Our zanpakuto weren't good! So one has the ability to use cero! Another when it cuts you, you bleed until he's killed or you are, the cuts can't be healed. Mine? Well Aizen's little Zanpakuto, the hypnosis type? Its nothing more than a party trick compared to mine."

Ichigo was a little more than startled, though he wasn't showing it. Whoever these guys were, they weren't like anyone he's face before. There was just something about them. Aizen was strong. But with Aizen there was something that was still somewhat human about him, he was acting out because he believed he was destined for greatness. With this bunch all he got was that they were doing this because they wanted to.

"Are you wondering what my power is?" The man asked him. Ichigo wanted to yell at him to let him go, and fight him like a man not a coward but of course it felt like his voice was stuck in his throat.

"Its simple really." The king drew his sword. "That fool's sword had a weakness, all you had to do was touch it and you were immune. I saw what happened and heard Gin talk about it. Mine is an easy thing to figure out but its a pain to try and break, literally."

The sword flashed into a slightly bigger blade, it was reflective and alluring. "You see mine gives me control over your entire body, and if I want, your thoughts. Enyo release the chains."

Ichigo felt the tightness that was binding his body suddenly disappear. Then the sword was pointing at his chest. It plunged right where his heart would be. Instead of the the pain that should come with being stabbed a warmth was radiating from his chest and it was slowly spreading.

He looked up at the wielder of the blade. The man was blanked face, he met Ichigo's eyes. The warmth reached his arms and legs. Then against his will he found himself standing up. His jaw was remaining stubbornly shut.

"See?"

With a flick of his wrist Ichigo was sent stumbling foreword into the room. He was walking awkwardly towards a table at the far end of the room. As he got closer he could see that there was a knife. He tried to fight for control of his limbs, finding that struggling was useless.

He stood at the table. His arm started to reach towards it. With widening eyes he resumed his struggle, this time a lot more fiercer. It was still mostly useless, the most that he accomplished was that he could twitch his pinky, but that was only when he used all of his reiatsu. His hand wrapped around the hilt of the knife.

The cool steel bit at his skin. Once his hand had a firm hold on the blade he brought it to his chest. His other hand wrapping around it, overlapping the original hand on it. It was aimed straight for his throat.

He felt a stirring at the back of his head, it was a presence that he hadn't felt since he got his shinigami powers back. It wasn't particularly welcomed but there wasn't much he was able to do.

The blade was moving closer to his throat now. He felt himself blackout as the blade jerked swiftly to his throat. When he came to, maybe a second later, he saw that the knife had been impaled into his shoulder as well and the warmth was receding from his limbs.

"Very good. That is truly who we've been looking for." The king had drawn closer to him. "Oh! Where are my manners? I'm Sachio Hayashi."

Ichigo stared at him. While he may have not been the smartest person in the world, Ichigo was still struggling with trying to find the motive behind these people.

"You should know that this is nothing personal." Sachio smiled, but his eyes told a different story. This was personal, and very much so.

Sachio turned his head and motioned for the two men that Ichigo had yet to be introduced to. "Masao, Tadashi, make sure he's comfortable."

The stress on the last word, made it sound like that it wasn't going to be a very comfortable stay for Ichigo. He had no choice but to be dragged off with the two men. One of them, he had blond hair that he pulled back into the tiniest of ponytails, and the bluest eyes Ichigo had ever seen. The other man, he had flaming red hair that was spiked at the front but the sides of his head were short. He had intense green eyes, he also had gauges in his ears.

Between the two of them they hoisted Ichigo in the middle. They headed off down a different corridor. They made so may twists and turns that he couldn't keep track of where they had turned left and where they had turned right. Once again the echoing was throwing off his sound perception, making him dizzy and lose his sense of direction. Ichigo found himself thinking that they made it this way so that their prisoner would get disoriented running around trying to force their way out.

Ichigo's ears popped indicating that they were going lower, at a gentle slope, but still lower. After several more moments after walking they came to a heavy looking door. It was similar to the one he had previously, but it wasn't the same, as this one had a bar that went across it, as well as a keyhole. The red haired man shove him into the blond man and walked open to the door muttering an incantation.

The door swung open, with a louder screeching sound than the one in Ichigo's previous cell, this time he did see several sparks and the scrape marks from the doors travel. The man who had opened the door grabbed Ichigo's other arm and finished dragging him into the room.

He was forcibly flung to the floor, for the second time in one day. The door shut behind the two men, he thought that he saw Yuna appear in the hallway just as the door clicked shut.

Both men eyed the poor boy with a sadistic delight in their eyes. The red hair man pulled out his sword. He eyed the young teen. "Lacerate,Muketsu!

The blade turned into a short dagger with sharp looking edges. It wasn't radiating that much power, and it was small so it wouldn't be that useful in a battle between it and Zangetsu, but something told Ichigo that it wasn't meant as a fighting weapon.

"Small isn't she?" The main spoke in very choppy words, making it evident that he wasn't used to the delicate language of Japanese. He was from one of the more heavily accented nations, maybe Scotland? Ichigo pondered.

"She's isn't much on fighting, but she's a devil in her own way." He twirled the dagger called Muketsu in his had.

He bent down to cut off Ichigo's bandages, using his dagger he accidentally nicked Ichigo lightly. Where it should've been the barest of cuts, it shouldn't have even drawn blood, was a small trickle of crimson being pulled down by gravity. His eyes widened. He wracked his brain for what Sachio had said about these guy's zanpakuto.

"Ah damn. Spoiled the surprise with that little bugger of a cut." The man said yanking off the old bandages. Then the dagger that was still in his shoulder. Ichigo looked at it in surprise, it had been in there the entire time. He looked at where it had been imbedded, it was turning a sickly green color.

"Looks like the poison is spreading." The wielder of Muketsu remarked.

"It is. Let us leave Tadashi, we need to let the poison do its job before we can do ours." The man who must be Masao spoke.

Tadashi sighed. "Aye."

"Don't worry you'll have your fun." Masao grinned devilishly.

"Can't I cut him at least once, let his see my power first hand?" Tadashi tilted his head.

"Do what you will. Just don't kill him."

Tadashi nodded. He bent down and yanked on Ichigo's good arm stretching it outwards. Tadashi proceeded to plunge the dagger into his shoulder and drug it down three inches or so, the ripped it out.

Ichigo yowled in pain. He looked over to see that a fair amount of blood was already welling up into the wound. Tadashi wore a content smile on his face as he wiped away the crimson liquid off of his blade. Then Tadashi sheathed his blade and turned to walk out of the cell. Masao followed behind him. The door slammed shut once more. Leaving Ichigo bathed in almost pitch blackness.

There was somehow the barest amount of light in the room with no distinct light source. He crawled over to a wall finding that it was to much effort to try and stand up and walk. He gritted his teeth as small bits of debris and pebbles scraped against his wounds on his stomach. He was grateful when he reached the wall. Shoving himself up with as much strength as he could muster, which wasn't a lot, had flipped himself over with his shoulders and head supported against the wall. He was already wheezing with each breath he took. He chalked that up to him being poisoned.

He looked over to where he had been stabbed the wound showed no signs of stopping its flow but it wasn't as bad as it had been. It stung terribly and the feeling of the sticky blood slicking his arm was disgusting, but sadly it was familiar.

Ichigo wasn't sure how long he had been laying in his awkward position before he felt a cold sweat break out, mingling with his blood. He could only imagine what he smelled like, he was pretty sure it would be revolting.

He closed his eyes, his body convulsed and pain tore through his body with a ferocity that he didn't know could exist. The poison was taking its toll on his body but it didn't seem to be harming him. Instead it was making him hyperalert to every sensation that assaulted his body. Like the stone that was rough a poking out slightly into his neck, while most of the time he wouldn't even feel it, at the moment it was like being pricked with a thin needle repeatedly. Those wounds that he received however long ago, he still didn't have a timeline, weren't close to being healed and the one that went through his side felt like it was on fire, and with even the slightest movements in felt like someone was digging their fingernails into the exposed muscle and scratching a the tender flesh.

His heart beat was raised, and he was truly scared, maybe not for the first time in his life, he had been afraid plenty of times, but this was different. Those times he was able to do something, like fight and argue. Now he was afraid and he was unable to do something, most of the time he couldn't even speak. He supposed that was difference, the times he was afraid before he considered himself to be strong, yet here in this dungeon, he was utterly weak, he couldn't even speak out against his captors because talking took more energy that he had at the moment.

Soon his lack of energy conquered his want to stay up and be on guard. He fell into an unrestful sleep. In his dream he was surrounding by crushing darkness he was unable to move. As he looked around he looked up and there was a flash of something it looked like eyes, that were yellow, they disappeared as briefly as they came and the darkness converged on him. Strangling him until he was no longer able to breath, trying to crush every single last shred of hope he had.

Ichigo awoke gasping for air. He looked around and still found himself in his poorly lit cage. His head was pounding, his throat scratchy, everything was screaming in pain, and he was terrified. He did his best to curl unto himself. He knew he wouldn't act like this under normal circumstances. But he didn't know who these people were, what they wanted with him, and they were screwing with him. Physically and mentally.

He did something that he hated doing, he felt like it made people see him as weak. A strangled sob tore from his throat. His situation was so full of despair he couldn't imagine how badly it was raining in his inner world. Trying to pull himself into a tighter ball, he winced and groaned at every movement, he moved his lips but no sound came out. He was uttering something though. His lips framed the words.

'Somebody save me. Doesn't anyone want to protect me as I've done them a dozen times over?'

He knew it seemed childish and selfish but he couldn't help it. It wasn't like he wanted his friends to fight these guys to save him, in fact he knew that once his friends found out he was missing there was no doubt in Ichigo's mind that they were going to do everything they could to find him. He merely uttered those words to give him more hope. They were something he could believe in. That somebody will save him. That somebody wants to protect him.

This time when sleep overtook him, it truly was sleep. It was serene, and he enjoyed it fully. He would need every ounce of sleep and he'd have to muster every reserve of strength he had if he was going to make it out alive.

This time when he dreamt he dreamt of a snowy place that went on for miles, it must've been freezing yet the cold had no effect on him. He could faintly here distant rumblings that sounded like a voice, he couldn't make out much more than that over the snowstorm that was blowing around him.


Hey an early chapter wouldn't you know? It really is possible! So how'd you like chapter 3? Leave a review with your thoughts. Anyway I'm out to write chapter 4! Later! ~IF